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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Will the Real Bunny Hill Please Stand Up?

I had the time of my life last night! I don't get it--according to Wii Fit, I have the balance of an eighty-two year old lady. But by some miracle, I am really getting the hang of skiing. I started the evening on the training hill with Clint, but he decided to get a private snowboarding lesson from an instructor, and I began to feel restless. So I decided to try out Snowflake by myself. I was nervous about getting on the chair lift alone, since my experience is still so limited. When I arrived to the chair lift, I asked a man standing nearby if this was the "Bunny Hill" (aka: "Snowflake"). He replied with, "I think so." So I got on.

About a quarter of the way up (after passing the real bunny hill), I realized I wasn't on the bunny hill at all. I had gotten on the wrong chair lift. I started to wonder how concerned I should be, but mentally coaxed myself into not worrying about it. After a gazillion so-called minutes of "not worrying" passed, I finally got to the top of the hill (mountain is more accurate). When I exited the chair lift, a few of my students were at the top, getting ready to go down. I felt relief flood through me at having familiar faces nearby. I said, "Thank God you guys are up here! You have to get me off of this mountain!" One of them, Nathan, who is an absolute sweetheart, said "Come on Mrs. P., I'll stay with you." So we started down the slope together. All was going well until I hit a patch of ice and my skis took off. I flew past the other skiers. Nathan kept shouting "Snow plow, Ms. P! Make a pizza!" I hollered back, "I am making a pizza!! Nothing is happening!" Pretty soon I could no longer hear Nathan, and I was completely out of control. I swerved left and right, sending sprays of snow up into the air, trying to avoid grates, trees, and other skiers. After what seemed like an eternity of feeling like a runaway train, I finally reached the bottom and made a hard right to stop myself. At this point I was facing backwards...but stillstanding. I was shocked that I hadn't completely ate it. Nathan and a couple of other students caught up to me and said "That was so cool, Mrs. P! We couldn't keep up with you! When did you learn to go that fast?" I was laughing so hard. I told them "You guys, I swear I wasn't going fast on purpose! My breaks just don't work!"

The rest of the night was absolutely exhilarating. I skied non-stop, mostly with my students. We took a break at around 7:00 to get a drink of water, and then it was back on the slopes. Toward the end of the evening I reunited with Clint, and he was doing surprisingly good with the snowboard.

There was one other funny little incident last night. I was on the chair lift with Nathan, heading up Coyote, and I was telling him about the trailer for the movie Frozen. I told him how in the movie, the teens are in a chair lift similar to the one we were currently riding, when suddenly the chair stops and everything goes dark. We were laughing at the spookiness of it all, when suddenly a minute later, at what had to be the highest point of our journey, our chair comes to a complete stop. Nathan and I didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then he says, "Like this, Mrs. P?" I laugh and say, "Yes, just like this. Except for there are supposed to be wolves down there." After another two minutes of sitting there, stuck, Nathan says, "I hope you have a cellphone, Mrs. P." I told him, "I left mine at the lodge. But I'm sure the people behind us have one." We turn around, and every single chair behind us, as far as the eye can see, is empty. At this point we both started giggling hard. Another student, David, was riding solo in the chair in front of us, and I shouted to him, "Gee, this isn't horror movie material AT ALL." A few minutes more pass, and just as Nathan and I are determining how many hypothetical bones we'd break if we jumped, the chair started moving again. We found out later that a snowboarder had crashed while exiting the ski lift (she was fine; she herself told us about her accident); hence the five minute delay.

This was the last ski and snowboard trip for the season with my school, but Clint and I are going to try to go again on our own one more time this month. I'd really like to try snowboarding, although the prospect of having both feet anchored to a board seems like sheer insanity.

6 comments:

It sounds like you had a good time! I love to hear about these things, it's sort of living vicariously through someone doing something I would NEVER do. I hate the cold, have no balance thanks to both my ears and the fact that I have zero depth perception... nevermind the horror movies and the fact that I'm terrified of heights!

Maybe something you and Clint might do more regularly? Sounds like you're having a good time with it. :)

I would love to ski regularly if it weren't for the cost! These two trips were all expenses paid because we were chaperoning. Skiing normally costs about $70 per person ($35 for lift-tickets, another $30-$35 for ski/snowboard rentals). Clint is contemplating using part of our tax return to buy season passes though, because we'd really like to go again. Today he bought a snowboard, so I know for sure that he plans to go a few more times.

Oh, it was Nathan from my class. He IS a total sweetheart like you mentioned on my blog. I absolutely love him.

I love many things about you, Jodi. One of them is that you live life to the fullest. Your life is so different from mine when I was your age (even now, I suppose) so, like Kristyn, I am living vicariouly through you and all your adventures. I admire your spirit and courage. That hubby of yours isn't too bad either!!

I don't even know what to say, Niecy. That was such a sweet, wonderful compliment. I just want to hug you right now. Will you deliver my eulogy someday? LOL. I don't know what it is...I just feel like our time here is so very short. It scares me how quickly it's all passing, and I get this nearly frantic feeling that I have to have as many experiences as possible while I still can. Sorry, I guess that's a little heavy for a simple comment.

Thanks for the compliment on Glazey! The blog is easy to make time for since I'm only posting on it about once every week or two...the art, on the other hand, is more time-consuming. But I just love painting so much. I paint after work about two times a week, and then every Saturday. The kids sit at the table and do art projects too, so it's become a whole family affair.